The Golden Cup
by The facelessdrabble
Summary: Shepard is out to destroy the Reapers. What if she had help?


**Okay, first things first. I say it's a Crossover, but that's not exactly right. I'm putting the Draenei from Blizzard into the Bioware realm. Catch is, they aren't exactly directly inserted. I'm using the culture (Most of it) and race, but that's it. In this case they are an Advanced race coming to fight the reapers. Anyway, hope you like it.**

*\Knock/\Knock/*

Shepard looked up from her game and considered the door. "Who is it?" They where docked at the Citadel, most of her crew where out and about.

"Galactic Parcel Service, we...uh... have a few packages for a Kathrynn Shepard."

Shepard shut down her omnitool and got up. She didn't remember ordering anything, curiouser and curiouser. "Just a sec." She walked over to the door and opened it, half expecting a skinny middle age man with a couple of boxes. What she did not expect was a Salarian with a dolly loaded with a huge sack stuffed to bursting with letters and a hover cart being pushed by a Krogan, heaped high with boxes. Miranda was standing in the elevator looking thoroughly amused.

"What... What is all this?" Shepard managed to stammer out, she was seeing, she was just having a hard time believing.

"I believe the term is fan mail." Miranda said, "They did after all make a movie based on your hunt for Saren. Number one in the Box Office for almost a year."

"Fan mail, people actually send me... Wait, they made a movie?" Shepard asked, "Who played me?"

The Salarian shoved the clipboard into Shepard's hands. "Sign please." Shepard briefly read the packing list, absently toying with the idea of spacing it all, then signed. "Where do you want all of this?" The Salarian asked.

"Just stack it here, in the hallway." Shepard said. The Salarian nodded and he and the Krogan started making a neat pile next to EDI's holotank. Shepard shook her head, "I can't believe this, I've never seen this many packages for one person in my life and I worked in shipping when I was a Recruit."

Miranda laughed, "You have fun with this, the garbage disposal is on the engineering deck if you need it."

Shepard shook her head, "I may just."

The Salairain and the Krogan finished stacking their load, the Krogan lifted the dolly onto the cart and pushed them into the elevator. "Have a nice day Commander." The Krogan rumbled, he turned to Shepard and she noticed he was wearing a pin that had the symbol of the Specters overlayed with an N7. She opened her mouth to ask and he just tapped it and smiled, turning back into the elevator.

The door closed, leaving Shepard with her mail. She reached for the top letter on the pile and flipped it over. It was sealed with a purple lipstick kiss. "That's a good sign." She mumbled somewhat sarcastically. She ripped it open and pulled out a small OSD, she hesitantly loaded it into her omni-tool and pressed open. A video started playing of a dark purple Asari in lingerie dancing..reaching for her top...pulling it slowly... Shepard violently ripped the OSD out of her omni-tool.

"JOKER!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Uh...Yes Commander?" Joker's voice said timidly over the com.

"I may have hit pay dirt on Asari stripper porn." Shepard said, eyeing the bag of letters. Quite a few had lipstick kisses on them. "Do you want it?"

There was a long pause on the other end, "Are you serious?" Joker asked.

"I have scanned her mail and it seems that the Commander has indeed received quite a large amount of erotic fan mail." EDI interjected helpfully.

"There is always a catch with you Shep, what do you want?" Joker asked.

Shepard grinned wolfishly, "You get to sort through my fan mail for anything useful, or anything I would want. In exchange you get to keep whatever you want."

"That sounds like a plan Shep." Joker laughed. "You going to bring it down here?"

Shepard let out an amused chuckle, "Nah, I was thinking of having-" That's when the pile of boxes started shaking and something at the bottom of the pile was shining brightly enough that it cast shadows through the top boxes. Shepard backed away slowly. That's when it started screaming, a loud, unearthly wail that set Shepard's teeth on edge and made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. "EDI!" Shepard screamed, diving into her quarters and flinging herself in front of her bathroom door.

"I am detecting a large energy build up. Sealing area and lowering blast shields. Operative Lawson is also on her way." EDI said, if Shepard didn't know any better she would have thought EDI sounded worried. Shepard watched as her door closed, followed by a deep humming sound that she felt more than heard as the blast door was sealed. She could still hear it though, it was a wailing shriek that hurt her ears. Then it suddenly stopped, the silence echoing in it's absence. Then it came, a massive explosion that ripped through the ten centimeter thick blast door like it was made of rice paper. Shepard was picked up and thrown against the wall above her bed, she felt several somethings crack and fell to her bed, she thought she saw someone standing in the hallway and heard blurry indistinct voices. The edges of her vision where dark and that darkness was closing in.

"Hull breach! Deck one!" EDI practically screamed. They where docked on the Citadel, as such the ship was in atmosphere so the hull breach wasn't as bad as it could have been. C-Sec was already buzzing around the explosion. "C-Sec is asking if we need assistance."

Miranda looked around, taking stalk and assuming control of the situation. "Inform C-Sec that we do not need assistance as it was a minor malfunction and we have everything contained." She took a breath, "We need to get to Shepard. Have Dr. Chakwas ready." She walked over to the elevator, the lock glowed an angry red. "Let's get this open." She slid open a small panel next to the door and reached into the hole, pulling hard on a small handle. The door snapped open a few centimeters and Miranda slid her fingers into the gap and pulled. The door opened a few more centimeters and then caught on something. "Hadley! Help me with this." The young man walked over and stuck his hands in the other side of the gap. "Ready?" He nodded. "One. Two. Three. Pull!" It took a moment for their efforts to sync up but between the two of them they managed to pry the door open. Miranda looked down the shaft, it looked like the elevator was on deck four. Good. She looked up, there was all kinds of debris hanging into the shaft but the ladder looked clear. "Come on." She said.

"Right behind you." Hadley said and then mumbled something under his breath.

"I heard that." Miranda said, climbing up the ladder. They reached the top and looked into the mess of a hallway, There was shredded paper everywhere, several OSDs, a few battered boxes strewn about. It looked like...well like an explosion had gone off. As they rounded the door to Shepard's cabin they both stopped short. There was a naked... Miranda's first reaction was Dæmon; dark gray skin, gently arcing black horns sprouting from the top of her head, long double knee legs ending in gleaming ebony hooves, a tail sprouted from the base of her spine and arced gently away from her body, extending down to her first knees, she was undeniably female and was waving her brightly glowing hands over Shepard's prone body.

"Damn." Hadley said, making the creature whirl around and look at Miranda and Hadley.

Miranda raised her gun and the woman took a step back from Shepard and raised her quickly dimming hands, turning to face the two and dropping to her knees. "What are you doing!?" Miranda demanded. The woman remained silent, choosing to just stare at Miranda with her strange glowing eyes. "What are you doing here?" Miranda repeated a little more forcefully. The woman just stared at Miranda.

"Um, Miss Lawson, I don't think she can understand you." Hadley said.

"I think she understands what this is," Miranda said, "Don't you?" The question was directed at the woman who looked back at Miranda, clearly afraid. She gestured wildly from herself to Shepard and back again, pausing every time she got to herself to clasp her hands together by her chest and make a pleading gesture. Miranda narrowed her eyes and leveled her gun at the woman. The woman stopped gesturing and looked at Miranda with wide fearful eyes. "What do you want?" Miranda demanded again. The woman stood up and started tentatively walking toward Miranda and Hadley, it was clear she was bracing herself for something with her scrunched up face and slow hesitant gait. "Stop." Miranda said. The woman flinched at the sound of Miranda's voice but didn't stop. Miranda made a snap decision and fired her gun, blowing a hole in the womans thigh. Bright blue blood sprayed everywhere and the woman collapsed to the ground with a cry of agony.

"Whoa!" Hadley cried, "I don't think she wanted to hurt us!"

"She set a bomb off in the Commander's cabin! Shepard is laying in the bed, probably with major injuries! She is clearly a terrorist! I haven't executed her because I have never seen her species before and I want to know how she got on board." Miranda snapped. She then turned to look at the woman, who was just sitting there, staring at Miranda and bleeding all over the floor. "What do you want!?" She screamed at the creature, her icy composure slipping a little. "I suppose we can examine a corpse just as well." She stepped up to the woman and pressed her pistol into the woman's forehead hard enough to leave an imprint. "Tell me how you got on board or I shoot you." Miranda said coldly.

"Don't" The voice lapsed into a wet and raspy sounding cough and then continued in a wet burble, "Don't kill her." The voice then fell into a wet heavy breathing. "Vanguard." It took everyone a moment to figure out who's voice, until...

"Shepard?" Miranda asked. "This thing set off a bomb in your cabin and nearly killed you." She pushed her pistol harder into the woman's head, forcing it back a few centimeters. "By all rights I should kill her here and now!"

"Don't...Order." Shepard wheezed.

"Fine." She pulled her pistol away and handed it to Hadley. "She so much as twitches, blow her head off. I don't care what the commander says." She lit up her omni-tool and started manipulating the interface, a long needle formed on the end of it and she cruelly rammed it into the woman's arm, making the woman cry out in alarm and pain. After a few moments her omni-tool ejected a bright blue cylinder with a happy beep. "Blood and tissue sample, I'm sure Mordin will enjoy this." She jerked her omni-tool, breaking the needle off and leaving it embedded in the womans arm. The woman inspected the hole in her arm and the slowly forming river of blood and then looked up at Miranda with a sad expression.

"Vetmata'eh atos." She said calmly. She then inclined her head.

Miranda didn't even acknowledge the woman, choosing instead to turn to

Hadley. "You have your orders." With that she turned and left.

The woman and Hadly considered each other for a long moment, "I really don't want to shoot you." He said. "I don't know why I'm talking to you, it's not like you can understand me." He folded up the gun and clipped it to his belt. "I'm sorry for Miranda, she can be a little harsh sometimes."

"Mesa'tan eta ven vesso." She said, looking at Hadley and tilting her head. "Voss." She then took two fingers and slowly started rubbing her thigh in a circle around the wound in her leg. "Voss." She sad again. Hadley watched as as her hands started to glow the wound started to heal. Eventually it closed completely, leaving a dark angry bruise. "Voss." She said again, this time pointing at Shepard.

"Uh... Sure?" Hadley said hesitantly, the woman looked at him with a mildly confused look. "Er, voss?" he asked, pointing at Shepard.

"Eltan, ket etos metta'van echta voss!" The woman exclaimed, getting painfully to her hooves and walking over to the Commander. She started waving her hands over Shepard's body, the bright glow returning.

"Doctor Chakwas is on her way, she and several crew are currently on their way to the elevator. I have advised her of the currant situation." EDI said.

"Would you have her bring a blanket or something?" Hadley asked.

"She is bringing a robe from the women's showers." EDI said.

"Thanks EDI" Hadley watched the woman work, it was hard not to stare. She was a beautiful woman, her shapes and curves. She was everything a man could ever want in a woman, with some fascinating exotic additions. He found his mind wandering as he watched her work, he was jerked out of his musing by a hand on his shoulder.

"Some guard you make." An English voice chided.

"She's an unarmed naked woman, what harm could she be?" Hadley asked.

"I think you overlooked her threat because she was a naked woman." Chakwas said.

Hadley flushed red. "I didn't..."

"What is she doing to the commander?" She asked.

"I think she is healing her. She calls it voss, Miranda shot her in the leg and she healed the wound." Hadley said.

"Interesting." Dr. Chakwas said. She walked over to the woman who paused for a moment to consider Chakwas, when all Chakwas did was open her omni-tool medical program and start scanning Shepard she relaxed and resumed waving her hands over Shepard. "Fascinating, her wounds are healing at an extraordinary rate. I can actually watch them heal!"

After a few more moments the woman stepped back and lowered her hands. "There." She said with a faint accent, something eastern European.

"You speak english!?" Hadley exclaimed,

"She does now," Shepard said, slowly sitting up. "She was in my head and we each learned a few things." She threw her legs off the edge of the bed and took a step to the woman, setting a a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

The woman inclined her head, "Thank you," she said quietly. "Now! I am Tazika and I was sent to help you fight the dark ones." Everyone looked at her with a confused expression.

"Reapers." Shepard clarified.

Tazika nodded, "Yes, reapers." She looked over at the crew man holding a robe. "Can I have that?"

He nodded and tossed her the robe. "Sure."

Tazika put the robe on and tied the sash, "I feel less, exposed now." She smiled.

"Why are you here and how did you get on board." A cold voice said from the back.

"Miranda." Shepard said, her voice coated in disapproval.

"Miranda?" Tazika asked, "That is her name?"

"Tell me how you got on board!" Miranda said again.

"Subspace transport, we used a homing crystal attuned to Shepard's voice to transport me here. The, ah, explosion was an accident. We did not anticipate the massive mass effect fields of the Citadel to effect the transport process."

"Who is 'we'" Miranda asked.

"Her people, she is supposed to be a vanguard for her people to build trust before their fleets arrive." Shepard said.

"Subspace transport..." Miranda frowned. "That's advanced technology."

"Very." Tazika said. "Technology wise my people are several hundred years more advanced then your people. Even the reapers."

"Then why come here? You could fortify your own worlds and leave the galaxy to it's devices." Miranda said.

"We are coming because we just fought the reapers and have come to destroy the root of the evil." Tazika said.

"If you are so advanced beating them must have been a trifle." Chakwas said.

Tazika closed her eyes and bowed her head. "If only it had been that easy." She lifted her head. "The reapers studied us and decided they would loose if they took us on in a straight fight, so they used their most insidious tool against us."

"Indoctrination." Shepard said.

"Indoctrination," Tazika confirmed, "They spread artifacts throughout our space, and being the curious race we are we took them in for study. They where transported all over our territory at the behest of their thralls. By the time we realized what was going on, it was almost to late. What followed was a long and bloody civil war, we beat them but the cost...the cost was high." Shepard reached over and placed her hand on Tazika's back, who looked over at her gratefully.

"How do you plan to help us?" Miranda asked.

"I bring technology, I am what my people call a Reaper and I hunt the dark ones and all they have Tainted." Tazika said. "In addition, the fleets of my people should arrive in a matter of months. We can then find the controlling dark one, and destroy it."

"'Controlling Reaper?'" Shepard echoed back.

"When my people where fighting the reapers we noticed that they had a command structure, and when they operated in tandem across multiple star systems, they demonstrated patterns that suggested an outside controlling force." Tazika said.

"We know how to take the fight to them, and now we can!" Shepard exclaimed. Everyone looked at her like she had gone off the deep end. She looked around,

"Don't you get it? With these people and their tech we can go through the Citadel relay and bring the fight to the reapers."

"Citadel Relay?" Tazika asked.

"Oh, the Citadel is actually a huge mass relay that leads to darkspace, where the reapers hide between cycles." Shepard said matter of factly.

Tazika seemed to be mulling this over, "I need to tell my commander this, we may be able to alter our fleets course and simply take out the reapers on our way into the galaxy." She took a few strides toward the door when Miranda stepped into her way.

"I forbid you from using the ships communication array." She said crossing her arms under her chest.

Tazika burst out laughing, "Your antiquated communications array? I might as well use a written note inside a drinking container."

"Message in bottle..." Shepard said.

"Irrelevant, point is your ships array is less than useless to me." Tazika said.

"Then how do you plan on contacting your superiors?" Miranda asked, looking slighty miffed.

"The homing crystal we used to transport me has all of my equipment inside it." Tazika said.

"You mean this?" Miranda held up a bright pink rock, a large, rough, uncut crystal.

"Yes, thank you." Tazika reached out to take the crystal, but Miranda didn't offer it up.

"I'm sure the technology in this device will be most useful to Cerberus." Miranda said, turning on her heel and starting to walk away."

"Good luck." Tazika said, shrugging. "It's attuned to my unique body signature. Only another Draenei can use it, and good luck finding one in this galaxy. Without me it's just a hunk of dead crystal, it has an odd EM signature, but nothing you would be able to confirm or quantify with your primitive instruments."

"Give her the Crystal Miranda." Shepard said. "We need her on the team, I've seen their tech, and her in action, it's pretty amazing."

"Fine, you get to stay in the cargo bay." Miranda stated, she walked over to Tazika and handed her the crystal. "You do anything to harm the ship or get in the way of our mission to stop the Collectors and I will personally put a bullet in your head."

Tazika nodded, "I think you may change your singing voice when you see what I bring to the card game." Everyone looked at Tazika with confusion. "Did I misspeak? Your human metaphors are so abstract and confusing."

"You'll get it eventually." Shepard said. "Come on, I want to see your tech in person."

"Yes, of course!" Tazika walked over to the elevator with the Commander and stopped at the door, she considered the ladder for a long moment then sighed. "I hate ladders" She mumbled.

"We can wait if you want?" Hadley said, coming up behind the two. "It should only take a half hour or so to clear this up. We need it anyway to get the equipment up here to seal that." He pointed up, there was a large crack in the ceiling and the 'sky' of the Citadel could be seen.

Tazika looked up and blinked. "Oh dear." She set the Crystal on the floor and sat down in front of it. once she was seated she closed her eyes, after a few moments the Crystal started glowing and a swarm of thousands of tiny black dots exploded out of the top, it seemed like a dense cloud of slightly iridescent smoke.

"Commander! Someone is attempting to access our network! They are going after the Normandy's schematics!" EDI yelped,

"Tazika?" Shepard asked.

"It is me. I would like access to those files please.." Tazika said, not opening her eyes.

"Let her in EDI." Shepard said.

"Ah. Thank you EDI." Tazika said, the smoke flowed up the roof and into the breach. After a few moments the entire ceiling was shrouded in it. It then expanded, flowing down into the door frame and the cabin itself. Just when everything except a tiny bubble where everyone was standing was wreathed in this twisting churning mass it rapidly contracted, rushing back into the crystal leaving everything intact. Repaired. "Nano-assembly units." Tazika said. "That was pushing the limits of what they are capable of I'm afraid, and it will be several days before I can use them again"

"That was amazing!" Hadley blurted.

"I have to agree with Hadely, that was impressive." Shepard said.

"Can they repair organic tissue?" Chakwas asked from the back.

"Sadly no." Tazika said, "What you saw me using on Shepard was a restoration field. It basically accelerates the bodies healing process, it can't regrow limbs and such, but is an efficient stop-gap for a medical facility"

"Medi-gel on steroids." Hadely mused.

"Medi-gel?" Tazika echoed.

"Bio engineered cytoplasam, It's a first aid measure." Chakwas said.

"Ah." Tazika took a step to the elevator. "I would like to set my equipment up if that's okay? I also want to put on some real clothing."

"By all means," Shepard said, pushing the elevator summon button. After a few moments the elevator arrived and everyone climbed in, "I feel bad that you have to stay in the cargo bay, but if I put you anywhere else Miranda will have a fit."

Tazika smiled. "Don't worry, after I set up you may be jealous of my lodgings."

Shepard quirked an eyebrow but didn't say anything until after everyone had piled out of the elevator onto the crew deck and the door had reclosed with a snick. "Now you have me curious." She admitted.

"This crystal has a pocket dimension inside it." Tazika said, holding the crystal up. "Well, that's not accurate. Not entirely." She lowered the crystal and seemed to consider. "It's a pocket of real space folded in on it's self." She reached down and grabbed the hem of her robe. "Like this." She folded it and pinched the near the fold with her fingers. "The space it occupies is the pinch, and the fold is space tucked inside. I'm probably not making much sense." She sighed and let her robe down. "Suffice it to say it has a hollow spot. A big one."

Shepard frowned and gestured to the door as it opened. "After you?" Tazika nodded and stepped out into the cargo bay, taking stock.

"This will do." Tazika said, walking past the console near the door and stopping in front of one of the large fan boxes.

"This?" Shepard asked, gesturing at the box.

Tazika noded. "Yes." She held her hand over the crystal and closed her eyes. After a moment a small square formed between her hand and the crystal, and she quickly grabbed it. "You may find this interesting." She said, setting the crystal on the floor.

Shepard looked from Tazika to the Crystal and back again. "So, that crystal doesn't look very big..."

Tazika smirked and pulled the little square apart, making four angles. "Just watch." She set each angle on a corner of the side of the fan, where they attached themselves. She then reached down and grabbed the crystal, bringing it up to the middle of the panel. When it would have hit the panel it seemed to flow into it, a yellow ring expanding out from where it seemed to go into the panel like ripples in a pool.

"What?!" Shepard took a step back as the crystal was absorbed by the turbulent yellow waves on the panel. After a moment the waves settled and in their place was a bright golden door.

"My room." Tazika said, touching the door with her fingertips. At her touch the door slid down, revealing a good sized room. It contained a weapons rack, a armor rack, and an odd bed that resembled a reclined chair. It even had a small starfighter taking up a whole side.

"Wow." Shepard said, walking into the room and wandering over to the fighter. "You have a stunt fighter."

"It's kind of a work in progress, a hobby. We all have our weaknesses." Tazika said shrugging. "It's the only one of it's kind, faster, more agile, better armed..." She trails off. "It's drive matrix overheats at 40 past lightspeed. It's a work in progress."

Shepard shook her head, "Better armed."She snorts. "If what you showed me is any indication this thing could go toe to toe with the Everest and hold it's own."

Tazika frowned "You don't use a dreadnought against a stunt fighter, The Dreadnought wouldn't be able to hit it, and the stunt fighter couldn't do enough damage in a reasonable time."

Shepard shrugged, "Fair point. So, are you going to contact your fleets?"

Tazika nodded, "You'll have to excuse me, this is something I would like to do in private."

"Sure." Shepard stepped outside the door and it closed with a metallic clank.

Shepard headed over to the elevator, wandering inside and pushing the button for the CIC. After a few moments she stepped out of the elevator, turning left and wandering into the lab.

"Ah. Shepard. Working on sample Miranda gave me. Most fascinating. Copper based blood, most unusual in large life forms. Dense oxygen cells, hardened muscle cells. DNA shows signs of modification." Mordin rambled off in his usual fashion.

"I wanted to talk to you about that, is there any way I can get you to work with her? She's not much of a scientist, but if we can incorporate her tech into ours it would be helpful." Shepard said.

"Ah yes, new technology, new science! Look forward to it!" Mordan shot off.

"Thanks Mordin." Shepard said, walking out the door. She rounded the corner on the CIC to almost crash into Tazika. The change was astounding, she wasn't naked anymore. She was wearing a purple armor that looked like it had been forged around her. Dark channels that ran the length of the armor pulsed with a bright Violet light, traveling from her head down to her Hooves. She had a small C shaped handle on one hip, and a bar of metal on her other. On her back she had an odd rifle that seemed to be made of nothing but hard angles. "Damn." Shepard said, stopping short and admiring the sight.

"I am looking forward to showing you what I am capable of, EDI informs me you were going to recover a person named Jack?" Tazika asked.

"Ya, I was planning on taking Kasumi and Miranda, but Miranda is on my shit list for how she treated you, so it looks like I have a spot open." Shepard said. Se walked up to the Galaxy Map and pulled up Omega. "Looks like we are going to Osen."

Tazika nodded, "Sounds fun."

"Destination set, one hour to Osen." Joker said over the intercom.

"Well, looks like you might introduce yourself to the crew, we have an hour to kill."Shepard said.

"I would rather not at the moment, my armor emits a neural field that dampens mental function. Brain Fog." Tazika said.

"I see, well, find someplace to park for a bit." Shepard said.

"Park? I'm not driving a land vehicle..." Tazika said, she seemed mildly confused.

"It's just an expression, it means find someplace to rest while you wait." Shepard said.

"Oh. I will...park... Here by the elevator." Tazika said. With that she turned on a hoof and walked over to the wall and leaned against it, a blue energy field came up out of her neck and encased her head, turning solid after a few moments.

"I was wondering how you handled vaccume." Shepard mused to herself, Tazika turned her head to look at the Commander for a moment but otherwise didn't react. Shepard shrugged and walked down the ramp to the cockpit.

"Commander! Do we really have a new kind of alien on board?!" Joker exclaimed as she got closer, "Because I hear she's got new tech."

"She has a stunt fighter in her room." Shepard said with a grin. "From what I've seen it can pull maneuvers that would turn anything the Alliance has into a tin can, and is capable of going up to fourty times the speed of light."

Joker opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, closed it after a moment before finally muttering. "Jesus."

"Ya, that's what I said too." Shepard said.

"Do you think she'll let me fly it?" Joker asked, the idea of flying something so advanced making him practically drool on himself.

"I don't know, can you fly a stick?" Shepard turned to see Tazika standing behind her, a thoroughly amused expression on her face.

"Wait, that ship is more advanced than anything I've ever even heard of and it's still stick?" Joker seemed almost stunned.

"It is a Stunt fighter." Tazika mused, shrugging.

"That's insane." Joker trailed off, rubbing his forehead and frowning. "Sudden headache. Hello."

"Sorry..." Tazika turned on a hoof and walked away.

"What was that about?" Joker aked.

"Her armor emits low levels of Infrasound, most likely the cause of your headache." EDI interjected.

"You can detect it?" Shepard asked.

"It is interfering with much of my audio equipment on this level. Given her comments to you she seems unable, or unwilling to deactivate it." EDI said.

"Wait, Infrasound..." Shepard trailed off. "Where have I heard about that technology before?"

"The data you recovered from Saren's base on Virmire indicated that the Reapers also use low levels of Infrasound as part of their indoctrination. Comparing the two they carry some level of similarity." EDI said.

Shepard frowned, her lip curling in disgust. "You mean to tell me she's using Reaper tech?"

"They are similar, but not identical." EDI said.

Shepard tore away from the cockpit and strode down the hall like a woman on a mission, "TAZIKA!" She bellowed when she reached the galaxy map.

"Yes?" Tazika said from the wall by the elevator, "What is the ma-?"

She never got to finish her question as Shepard slammed her into the wall, Shepard's arm across Tazika's chest. "Why are you using Reaper tech?!" Shepard demanded.

"It's not 'Reaper' technology." Tazika said calmly. "Is it based on their Technology? Yes. It's based off of it. It dampens the mental function of everyone around not in Draenei armor, but it's more than that, it's a counter measure to Indoctrination."

"It's fucking up my ship and my crew. Turn it off." Shepard growled at the woman.

"Have it your way." Tazika frowned and seemed to focus for a moment. "There. I will reactivate if we ever encounter a Reaper, or a Reaper corpse." Tazika stated, she wasn't asking permission.

Shepard dropped Tazika to her hooves with a thud. "Why is this so important to you?"

"My people have mild Psionic abilities, you've seen it first hand. It makes us fierce warriors on the battlefield and a force to be reckoned with, but it has a drawback. We are highly venerable to being Tainted, and because we share the Blessing of the Naaru Taint spreads through small groups of us like a plague." Tazika frowns, "Once someone is Tainted they must be dealt with swiftly, or everyone around them will turn."

"'Dealt with?'" Shepard echoed. Tazika didn't reply, choosing instead to step to the side and grab the bar off her belt. With a gesture a glowing blade snapped into existance, sprouting from the sides of the handle and flowing in line with her arm. It was beautiful and deadly, superheated plasma curling off the blade like little wisps of steam.

"If I find any of your Crew to be Tainted, I will not hesitate. I will show no remorse, pity, or mercy." Tazika said. With that she deactivated her Sword and stepped into the Elevator.

Shepard let out the breath she didn't realize she had been holding and summoned the elevator, heading to her cabin. "EDI? Would you have Joker let me, Kasumi, and Tazika know when we are close?"

"Yes Commander." EDI said.

"And EDI?" Shepard said.

"Yes Commander?" EDI seemed curious.

"I think that we should keep the fact that your Blue Box has a chunk of Reaper in it from our new guest." Shepard said.

"Agreed." EDI confirmed.


End file.
